Invited Paper

The Design of Uncooled Infrared Imaging Arrays

Paul W. Kruse
Infrared Solutions, Inc.
Minneapolis, MN

ABSTRACT

Systems enabling uncooled infrared arrays capable of imaging room temperature scenes employ
thermal detection mechanisms such as the resistive bolometric, pyroelectric/field enhanced pyroelectric
and thermoelectric. All such approaches are subject to the fundamental limits of temperature fluctuation
noise and background fluctuation noise. The thermal isolation structure is the most important item in
optimizing the pixel design. Although it is possible to attain the limits with mechanisms which do not
require bias, such as the thermoelectric or pyroelectric, it is probably easier to do so with mechanisms
which require bias, such as the resistive bolometric and the field enhanced pyroelectric.

Keywords: uncooled IR focal plane arrays, temperature fluctuation noise limit, background
fluctuation noise limit
1. INTRODUCTION
One of the most important developments in infrared technology has been that of uncooled focal
plane arrays based on thermal detection mechanisms.(1) In comparison with cryogenic focal plane
arrays, made from materials such as (Hg,Cd)Te, InSb, PtSi and A1GaAs/GaAs, uncooled arrays offer
similar performance at much lower system cost for those applications where millisecond pixel response
times can be accommodated. For example, surveillance systems operating at TV frame rates (30 Hz in
the U.S.) are well suited for two-dimensional uncooled arrays, but most missile seekers in use today
require faster response.
Many investigators looking toward the choice of an uncooled array technology begin their search
from a materials perspective, seeking a material which provides a high responsivity in some detection
mechanism. For example, if the detection mechanism is a resistive bolometric one, they search for a
new material which has a large temperature coefficient of resistance. Or if they are searching for new
.
pyroelectric materials, they look for materials for which the pyroelectric figure of merit is large. (The
pyroelectric figure of merit is the pyroelectric coefficient divided by the volume specific heat of the
pyroelectric material and divided by the square root of the product of the relative permittivity and the
loss tangent)
The problem with this materials-oriented approach is that it ignores the role of the substrate. There
is an unstated assumption that after the material choice is optimized, a substrate configuration can be
independently chosen and independently optimized. This is clearly the path chosen in the hybrid
approach to development of a pyroeleciric detector, where the pyroelectric layer is optimized separately
from the underlying substrate and then the two are bump-bonded.(2)
This materials-oriented approach can provide uncooled infrared arrays capable of imaging room
temperature scenes with an NEll) (noise equivalent temperature difference) better than, i.e., less than,
0.1 deg C. And it may be possible even to reach the temperature fluctuation noise limit appropriate to
that configuration, but it is highly unlikely to reach the background fluctuation limit. The better
approach is the thermal isolation structure oriented one discussed below.

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 2. THERMAL ISOLATION STRUCTURE
It is the thermal isolation structure which determines the temperature rise ET which accompanies the
absorption of infrared radiation by the pixel.(3) Assume that the sensitive area of a pixel has a heat
capacity C. Assume that the thermal conductance of the principal heat loss mechanism, which in almost
all examples today is the support structure, be G. Assuming that temporally modulated radiation having
angular frequency Co falls on the pixel, which has an absorptance G. Then

C d(LtT) G(iT) = TiP P0 exp(jot); (1)

where j = , t is time and P0 is the amplitude of the modulated radiant power. Note that this
expression relates only to the incident radiant power. If a bias current is applied, such as is true in
resistive or ferroelectric bolometers, it is assumed that this forms a thermal pedestal independent of time
upon which the temperature rise due to the modulated absorbed radiant power rides.
The solution of Eq. (1) is

T= liP
1/2; . (2)
.
G(1+&'c2)
where 'C, the thermal response time, is

(3)
,r=..
Thus it can be seen that the pixel temperature rise z\T is inversely proportional to the thermal
conductance 0 at low modulation frequencies where ut << 1, which is the regime of greatest interest
for most applications of uncooled thermal infrared detectors. The result of this is that the responsivities
of resistive bolometers, pyroelectric detectors and thermoelectric detectors are inversely proportional to
G, see Eqs.. (1), (5) and (8) of reference (1). Excellent thermal isolation (very low thermal conductance)
is accompanied by high responsivity.

3. FUNDAMENTAL LIMITS
In addition to its importance in attaining high responsivity, the thermal isolation structure determines
the temperature fluctuation noise limit. As shown in Eq. (12) of reference (1), the temperature
fluctuation noise limited NEll) (noise equivalent temperature difference) is

2(4F2 + 1)T (kBG)"2

TAD;(AP /
where F is the f/no, of the optics, TD is the temperature of the array, k is Boltzmann's constant, B is the
noise bandwidth, AD is the pixel area, ; is the transmittance of the optics and (P / LT5),_ is a
blackbody function, the rate of change of the radiant power per unit area of a blackbody at temperature
T with respect to temperature, measured within the wavelength interval between 2 and X. Of

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 importance here is that the temperature fluctuation noise limited NETD varies with the square root of the
thermal conductance of the pixel heat loss mechanism. This dependence is illustrated in Figure 1 •(1)
The ultimate limit of a thermal detector is the background fluctuation noise limit, for which the
principal thermal loss mechanism is radiative. In that instance, temperature fluctuation noise becomes
background fluctuation noise, whose limit is given by(1)
1/2
( 4F2 + 8kB(T5D + T5B )
NETDBF — _______________
:1.) •
(5)
t0(tP I T5)_ flAD

where is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant and TB is the background temperature. That limit is also
shown in Figure 1.
Real uncooled focal plane arrays can be temperature fluctuation noise limited today, but none are
background fluctuation noise limited. The Texas Instruments hybrid pyroelectric focal plane array,
which when biased electrically is a ferroelectric bolometer, also known as a field-enhanced pyroelectric
array, comes close to or is at the temperature fluctuation noise limit corresponding to the thermal
conductance G of its hybrid construction, estimated by this author to be in the
1x1O5 — li1OWatts I degC range. The best NETD value reported for this array is 0.05 degC. On the
other hand, Honeywell's resistive bolometer array of monolithic construction,(4) having a thermal
conductance 0 of 1— 2xlO7Waus/degC, has a best reported NETD of 0.039 Watts/degC, which is a
factor of about 3 from its temperature fluctuation noise limit. The explanation for the better performing
array being farther from the temperature fluctuation noise limit is of course that this limit is not a single
value but rather depends upon G" as shown in Eq. (4) and Figure 1.

4. ATTAINING THE FUNDAMENTAL LIMITS

To attain the temperature fluctuation noise limit means that temperature fluctuation noise be greater
than any other noise, including Johnson noise and 1/f power law noise. The latter occurs only in
electrically biased operation. It is not amenable to exact analysis and will not be discussed here. To be
temperature fluctuation noise limited means that that form of noise exceeds Johnson noise. The mean
square temperature fluctuation noise is given by
— i'r2
(6)
C
The response mechanism acts on temperature fluctuation noise as it acts upon the temperature change
due to the absorbed signal radiant power. If the response mechanism is a resistive bolometer, then the
temperature fluctuation noise limited voltage V is given by
— (ir2 '1I2
V = ibccR(T) 1/2
=
ibaR—J
; (7)

where 'b is the bias current, a is the temperature coefficient of resistance and R is the pixel resistance.
On the other hand, the Johnson noise voltage V is given by

V = (4kTRB)'. (8)

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 Thus, temperature fluctuation noise limited performance in a bolometer is theoretically possible if the
bias can be increased sufficiently, without overheating the pixel and without adding 1/f power law
noise, to raise VTF over V. Similar arguments can be made for field enhanced pyroelectric detector
operation, although the expression for the temperature fluctuation noise limited signal and Johnson noise
would differ from those above. However, pyroelectric detectors without bias, and thermoelectric
detectors, which operate without bias, do not have the ability to electrically raise the temperature
fluctuation noise above Johnson noise. In general, any detection mechanism which will "amplify"
Johnson noise without excessive heating or 1/f power law noise has an advantage over others which do
not.

5. REFERENCES
1) P.W. Kruse, 'Uncooled IR Focal Plane Arrays," SPIE 2552, Infrared Technology XXI, 556 (1995).

2) See, for example, C. Hanson, et al., "Uncooled Thermal Imaging at Texas Instruments," SPIE
1735, Infrared Detectors: State-of-the-Art, 17 (1992).

3) P.W. Kruse, L.D. McGlauchlin and R.B. McQuistan, Elements of Infrared Technology, John
Wiley and Sons, New York (1962), Chapter 9.

4) R.A. Wood, "Uncooled Thermal Imaging with Monolithic Silicon Focal Plane Arrays," SP
Infrared Technolov XIX, 329 (1993).

ia-8 ia-7 10-6

G (W/C)

Figure 1: Temperature fluctuation noise limit and background fluctuation noise limit of
uncooled thermal imaging arrays employing thermal detection mechanisms.

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